Charges for Prison Phone Calls

News from Peter Wagner, Executive Director, Prison Policy Initiative:

The New York Times cited Prison Policy Initiative's new report, "The Price To Call Home: State-Sanctioned Monopolization in the Prison Phone Industry," in a September 23d editorial, noting that many telephone companies "charge inmates spectacularly high rates that can force their families to choose between keeping in touch with a relative behind bars and, in some cases, putting food on the table." It called on the FCC to regulate the prison telephone industry. The report was also cited in a letter from Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Rep. Bobby L. Rush to the FCC requesting action on the high costs of phone calls between incarcerated individuals and their families.

A corporate accountability public interest group, Sum Of Us, has also created a page for submitting comments to the FCC, which is currently accepting comments on new regulations that would limit what phone companies could charge inmates' families for calls.